Doodly Advanced Tutorial

Reveal Assets Behind Other Assets

Advanced Tutorial #14

Reveal Asset Behind Other Assets

Examples of how Doodly draws or reveals Doodly assets by default.

Showing the steps to make a Doodly asset draw behind another asset on the canvas.

This document will explain how to provide an advanced skill level pseudo out of order asset reveal method. If you desire to make an asset appear behind another asset after the initial asset has been revealed then these are the instructions for that effect.


Working with Images

Note: This level of expertise requires skills with Windows Snip and Sketch tool or another snipping program, an image manipulation program such as Adobe Photoshop, knowledge of file types that has the ability to save as a SVG file or GIMP and reveal path layer creation expertise. Without these skills, this effect may not be effective or appear convincing.

If you don’t have the knowledge of file types that work in Doodly. Watch my Working with Images video tutorial.

Solo Boss Beginner Doodly Video Tutorial: Working with Images

Doodly Limitation

Doodly reveals top to bottom in the layers section. It is not a multi-layer software so therefore it suffers severely when wanting to create effects outside of its limitations because of the lack of multi-layer or multi-level support.

Note: Most of the time, with a doodle, this doesn’t really matter but what happens when you want to draw an asset behind another asset. Doodly does not support this type of interaction natively but that doesn’t mean you cannot make it happen on the canvas by working within the Doodly limitation.

Synopsis

By snipping the entire section, including the character and prop asset, we can save the file as a SVG and them import that back into Doodly to create our reveal paths. This will allow us to put Amanda and the table on the second layer but give the appearance we are revealing Amanda behind the table.

Step by Step Instructions

If you have a photo editor that can read .mp4 files then use the instructions in the Solo Boss Intermediate Skill Level Doodly Tutorial #29: Rapidly Export Multiple Assets.

These instructions are for those of you that don’t have an image manipulation program that can read .mp4 files.

  1. Copy and paste the desired scene to a new doodle.
  2. Set the end of scene time for an additional 10s to allow the playback controls to disappear.
  3. Export the Doodle at same resolution as your other doodle, 30fps, 100% quality.
  4. Snip out the asset in question.
  5. Paste the asset into your image manipulation program.
  6. Save the file as a SVG file.
  7. Import that SVG into Doodly
  8. Line up the asset in place of the other one and adjust the size as necessary.
  9. Create reveal paths or load them if your image manipulation program automatically adds them to the SVG.

Now you will have an asset on the second layer that appears to be draw the asset behind another asset. See the attached images for more detail

Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers to the most common questions regarding this topic.

You can create this effect by taking a snapshot of your combined images and saving it as a scalable vector graphics file. Once you bring that file back into the software, you can set up custom drawing paths to make it look like one item is being drawn behind the other.

The software processes layers strictly from top to bottom and lacks native support for complex multi level arrangements. Because of this structural limitation, users must rely on creative workarounds to achieve the illusion of drawing objects in the background.

You will need a screen capture application like Windows Snip and Sketch along with an advanced graphics editor such as Adobe Photoshop or GIMP. These programs allow you to isolate elements and convert them into the proper file format needed for custom drawing paths.

Copy your desired scene into a fresh project and add ten extra seconds to the end time so the playback controls fade away. Then export the video at maximum quality and thirty frames per second before taking a screenshot of the specific elements you need to edit.

You must save your edited graphics as SVG files before bringing them back into the program. This specific format allows the software to recognize the shapes and enables you to create the custom paths required for the background drawing illusion.

About the author

Wayne Leiser
Wayne Leiser
Editor & Contributor
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